Nistria
Summary The empire of Nistria is a land inhabited by travelers, thieves and several mercenaries that were previously in other territories of The Realm. The population is 97% constituted from lupussegners, a werewolf like kind, wishing to find a life due to the genocidal ideology of the Arch Despotate Of Haelysia and The Hospital's ideology of cleansing the world. The other 3% are human travelers, tourists and sellswords wishing to be integrated into the community and are also welcomed with open arms despite lupussegners being portrayed as malevolent and evil beings that only wage war against everything that moves that isn't them. Inhabiting the more northern part of the land, the lupussegners thrive in their environment. The main source of income comes from mining and selling weaponry to other countries. The people of Nistria follow the religion of Aethirleal, where they ship the dragon Aethir , made from cosmos. They are a peaceful, but fairly militaristic empire that will resolve to violence only if necessary. History The Nistrian history is often seen as a sign that not all non-humans are genocidals freaks (unlike some people will lead to believe). Long ago, the part where the Nistrian empire is, was empty and full of camps where soldiers and merchants alike gathered as a place and was considered a neutral zone, where enemies would drink, laugh and eat together. Some beings like lupussegners however, found the place comfortable and perfect for them and decided to settle there in a permanent way to found the Nistrian Empire. The economy was hard to determine on what it should base itself off and decided to have mining as a main source of income, considering that you can't grow much on lands that barely see temperatures over -5 degrees Celsius. Geography The empire of Nistria is located in the north-east of The Realm of Phaedros, making the empire of Nistria a neighbour to Svaerland. The Nistrians are also neighbours to the Norheim Ice Giants and the Svaldan Tribes. Nistria is very neutral towards the Svaldan Tribes, but extremely hostile to the Norheim Ice Giants, due to their history of enslaving several lupussegners and working them to death due to extreme strength and ability to survive without food. The Nistrian empire is located on the Peninsula of Wrath and is near the Boreal coast. The Peninsula of Wrath is very rich in minerals and is often exploited for its iron that is cheap due to large deposits being found. The Nistrian empire uses the Boreal coast to fish as a source of food. The most recent expansion let the Nistrian empire have a place for its navy where they developped their fleet, now growing much faster. The other expansion let cattle be produced in mass quantities to help feed the Nistrians and have more trade options. Screen Shot 2017-11-20 at 9.24.44 PM.png|The empire of Nistria's map Screen Shot 2017-11-20 at 9.33.20 PM.png|Geographical location of the empire of Nistria Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 5.31.17 PM.png Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 5.31.43 PM.png Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 5.31.32 PM.png Screen Shot 2017-12-01 at 7.56.13 PM.png|The Nistrian empire's most recent expansion Screen Shot 2017-12-01 at 7.58.18 PM.png|The other expansion of the Nistrian empire, centred around raising cattle Lupussegners Lupussegners are seperate creatures to werewolves. While they do share similar traits, they highly differ from werewolves. For example, lupussegners are born as a werewolf like creature, but is given the ability to shift from human to beast due to a amulet they use. The common trait they share with werewolves, apart fromtheir physique, is that the moon being full affects them somehow. In the case of lupussegners, they enter a maniacal and bloodthirsty phase where they must slaughter anything that isn't them. To prevent any damage to be cause furthermore, human soldiers lock up all the lupussegners on the same day of the full moon in a chamber where a spell is cast to maintain the lupussegner's human form and the beaststones are taken away. The following day, the lupussegners are released back to their regular lives and handed back their beaststones. The process is repeated the next full moon and so on. The measures were taken after the emperor realized that letting the citizens lock themselves in their own houses was not good due to the requirment of the houses to be built from iron. The main trait of the lupussegners is their capability to recover without medical help any wound, as long as it's not fatal. After the wound is recovered, a layer of solid bones cover the space underneath the scar, giving lupussegners the ability to keep their mobility while having the equivalence of a medium armour. They have immense strength, even if it's not the full moon (where it is boosted) and can live without food for 4 months and not drink for 1 month. They use their capability of being savage beasts during the full moon on the battlefield accordingly, always calculated precisely for the phase to end exactly when the battle is estimated to last. The lupussegner's thick layer of bone can't resist the bite of the mighty blade, the Ragnœll. Army The army is very cheap to maintain and very ferocious, trained harshly in the cold conditions of the Nistrian Empire. Due to the effectiveness of the iron production in the empire, footmen even have light armour to them, in addition to the bone layer protecting them. Most footmen, however, tend to keep away from the armours considering of the major advantage given to them on the base with the bone layer. Footmen have a rigorous training where they are slashed in specific areas to stimulate the creation of the bone layer. The archers are often very stealthy and have the same training to stimulate the bone armour, but less intesive to not slow them down too much and will have the equivalence of having a light armour. The Nistrians use ballistas and tank-like units called Ballisticians. The emperor will only show up if the conflict requires him to show the might of the Ragnœll. No one know how do Ballisticians work, nor what they shoot, due to the Nistrian empire not needing it. Some say that it shoots balls of flaming rocks doused in gasoline, but no one will know until they will be deployed to the public. Ballistaes will shoot massive projectiles that are mostly enflamed and Nistrians are trying to put gunpowder to use on them, just like on the Ballisticians, where they use a miniaturized ballista on wheels that works on steam, but are trying to put a cannon on it. The Nistrians have a very small navy, made from fishing boats that are slightly more armoured. Werewolf archer.jpg|Nistrian Archer Werewolf swordsman.jpg|A Nistrian footman Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 8.10.47 PM.png|Nistrian ballista Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 8.12.00 PM.png|A Ballistician's vehicle The Aethirleal The Aethirleal is a cult where the lupussegners ship the cosmos dragon, Aethir. The rituals are simple. There are no worshipping places. The king is seen as the being chosen by Aethir to represent him. The Aethirleal also happen to know the existence of the mighty blade, Ragnœll. Each owner of the Ragnoœll is the king and will be buried with it. It is said that the legendary blade is made from one of the mighty dragon's teeth that fell out and with the Ragnœll, it is said that you can slay dragons with it with a single blow or if striking the might cosmos dragon, if the being decides to turn evil to put him to sleep for 1000 years the second the mighty dragon recieves a blow to the head. The people worship the king on each of his travels throughout the land. The emperor is rarely seen with the Ragnœll in his paintings or in person. The Aethirleal also forged weapons like The Sword of Darkness, wielded by the prince which shoots arrows of pure dark energy which possesses the power to slay the undead and The Bow of Lightning, wielded by the right hand man of the emperor, which does not require the use of arrows and uses thunderbolts. The Sword of Darkness was forged to slay the Necromancer and purify lands, which powers the blade even further and makes small explosions a reality for a few amount of times. Ragnœll 1st.jpg|The first Ragnœll of the first emperor Ragnœll 2nd.jpg|The second Ragnœll forged for the second emperor Ragnœll.jpg|The most recent Ragnœll, used in the flag of Nistria Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 8.31.54 PM.png|The third emperor of Nistria in his human form, Adolphus the First, leader of the Aethirleal Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 8.39.26 PM.png|The Blade of Darkness Screen Shot 2017-11-22 at 8.38.38 PM.png|The Bow of Lightning Screen Shot 2017-11-23 at 7.17.02 AM.png|The current High Prince, Zephiel, wielding the Blade of Darkness in his human form Diplomacy The Nistrian Empire is a fairly neutral country, considering it is built off the base that it was founded on a neutral zone. They are nice unless you approach their borders too much and are very hostile to Norheim, due to massive amounts of the lupussegners being taken into slavery by the Ice Giants. The Nistrian Empire will often require a small amount of no man's land or neutral zone between borders to ensure no conflict will happen and pressure the country to adhere to it by putting a economical pressure on whoever they suspect will break the neutral zone rule. They also built a wall with the scraps from mining to slow down the enslaving of their people by the Ice Giants, guarded by ballistas and Ballisticians, who roam on their side of the wall, safely.